There’s a Yak in My Window!

Okay, about one mile from Jonah and Aja’s house in Sequim is the Olympic Wild Animal Park. It is AWESOME!  According to the folks in Sequim these were animals used in Disney movies…some of them trained and this is their final resting place after their movie careers.
You are absolutely forbidden to get OUT of the car but there are no rules for the animals about getting IN the car! It was hilarious! We laughed our heads off! Luckily Elsie didn’t scream her head off! Considering that Aja and I both forgot our cameras, these are pretty good shots from the Iphones!


We took some of the bread from the food bank to feed these wild beasts, who knew we had treats from them. But we think they liked us better than anyone who had been through in their recent memory because our car smelled so good! Mmmmm, You just can’t beat those fish and chips or maybe they thought they were going to get some Chinese food! *


Just behind this cutie was an enormous white rhino. Look at the size of those logs on his fence!



Here’s another one on approach, looking for chop sticks!


The zebras were delightful. The kids went wild over them!





But this guy below was my absolute favorite! Eighteen hundred pounds of Kodiak Bear lumbered over when he saw us coming and just sat there and caught every piece of bread in his mouth that was in catching distance without having to move!He was fantastic!






There were VERY aggressive lamas (we had to keep moving to keep from being attacked)!
 Aja said, "Uh OH, those ears are down...we're out of here!"





And bison and fallow deer that looked a like Santa’s reindeer:





The wild predators were beautiful but sadly they looked a little like they were quartered at Guantanamo Bay! There was a small roaming yard out back but not enough room for an “Aslan”!








There was one giant bull elk in a fenced yard and lots of other elk just roaming around.





What a fun place right in Jonah and Aja’s back yard! Aniston was the champion bread chucker. Those giant buffalo loved it, even though no one ever got any of that yummy Chinese food!

*For those who don’t know, Jonah and Aja’s car runs on used oil, sometimes from fish and chips places, but usually Chinese food places. The exhaust smells delicious!

More Fun in Sequim

 

Just a couple of shots on our way to church:

When I asked Camdem why he didn’t smile in this picture he said, “I don’t like having my picture taken. I think he’s serious!” BUt he is about the cutest kid ever when it comes to explaining how to play a game or what he does at school.

But Elsie doesn’t mind having her picture taken one bit!

(Dress compliments of “Papa and Dodie”)

Here it seems that Ana also likes to have her picture taken especially with an identification of who she is! Apparently Elsie and Camden have changed their minds about taking pictures! Don’t Jonah and Aja look radiant?(jonah always closes his eyes when he’s happiest!) 

That grandfather is just a barrel of monkeys!  Here they are all in in the cozy new “blow-up” bed. Note our rental car outside the window!

 

And here we are oogling over the Bear Lake book that Saydi sent for Christmas!

 

 

Sweet new baby Poem, totally unaware of the great life she has in store with this creative and amazing family, just looks on and yawns…

      

 

 

Meanwhile, the chickens have left their homes and are enjoying a delicious meal from the food they would otherwise throw out at the food bank!

 

Note the great fencing job Jonah has done around their property, not to mention the leveling and getting rid of all that tall grass. Hard work! 

After a quick stop at McDonalds, to the special delight of Camden….

 

we headed for Crescent Lake which is where the Eyres waterski in the summer…about 40 minutes from their home.

 

The lush trees of the surrounding forest and the grass, still green with moss growing everywhere is simply spectacular!

We ended the day watching Narnia and then having a scrumptious Thai dinner in Sequim (although it didn’t compare with the luscious leg of lamb, wonderful creamed pork on biscuits, scrumptious bullhonkey soup with elk meat, amazing homemade split pea soup and the divine dungeness crab that Jonah treated us to while we were there. He got the cooking genes from Grampa Dean, the farming genes from Grampa Jacobson, the frugality genes from Grandma Ruthie and the work ethic from Grandma Hazel.  What a great combination!

Aja was also incredible, making us feel so comfortable there amidst her creative way of making that crazy house feel like a lovely home and filling us in on everything we didn’t know in the world. No one would know that she had a baby at home…posterior…on a “birthing chair” only two weeks ago!  She was up all night with the baby and then out all day with us. I didn’t see one nap pass that girl’s eyes!  I sure hope she recovers with some nice extra sleep once we’re gone. She is a champion new mother, as usual! 

What a truly unique family in a truly unique place on earth! 

Fun on the Farm

Jonah and Aja's little farmhouse is amazing. You wouldn't believe what they did inside for $150!

Man these guys really know how to farm!  They have 40 chickens, 8 piglets and their mom, two bunnies, a cat, and a horse.  That's not counting the crabs.  Boy is this fun. Takes me right back to my childhood!

Ana is an expert horsechild!  She is so great at taking care of Cocoa, which is a big job three times a day. She also rides like a champ! 

 

Do you love the backlighting on those ears? 

Having a little sip of water between feedings. This hot mama needs to eat and drink a LOT in order to feed 8 babies, 20 pounds each.  

 

View out their front window: 

I would never have thought of crabbing as part of the farm but these guys sure do! 

We had a ball out on the crabbing boat! 

Here's a crabpot (one of five of Jonah's in the bay). 

 

Sunfish in the first one:

 

So this big guy was in one of them. Jonah is amazing! He cleaned them and them we went right home and ate them. They were to die for!

This is definitely a Christmas we'll never forget!

A Sequim Christmas!

After the festivities at the Looslis we headed for the airport and landed a couple of hours later in Seattle, then rented a car and hustled on up to the Jonah and Aja household for Christmas.  We all enjoyed a delectable leg of lamb with all the trimmings before we watched the kids get excited about opening their gifts to each other which is always so fun.

 

Then everyone went to bed and waited for the arrival of Santa. He CAME!

We opened presents ALL day!  Literally until it was dark (with breaks for food, crabbing and skyping).

 

 

Of course this was the MAIN ATTRACTION:

What an angel this little girl is.   Such a peaceful spirit!  

She is also tiny and petite, despite the thought that she weighed in at 9 pounds. 

She is absolutely a dream child!

Christmas at the Eyres was also a wig extravaganza!

See the next post for fun on the farm on Christmas Day!